Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages: New Commentaries on ’Liber de Causis’ and ’Elementatio Theologica’

979 Pages·2016·5.845 MB·English

by  Dragos Calma

Studia Artistarum
Etudes sur la faculté des arts dans les universités médiévales
42-1
Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages
I. New Commentaries on Liber de causis
(ca. 1250-1350)
Studia Artistarum
Études sur la faculté des arts dans les universités médiévales
Directeurs honoraires
Olga Weijers
Louis Holtz
Sous la direction de
Luca Bianchi Dominique Poirel
(Università di Studi di Milano) (Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des Textes)
Secrétaire de rédaction
Dragos Calma (Cambridge)
Comité de rédaction
Henk Braakhuis (Nijmegen)
Charles Burnett (London)
Anne Grondeux (Paris)
Jean-Pierre Rothschild (Paris)
Cecilia Trifogli (Oxford)
Studia Artistarum
Études sur la faculté des arts dans les universités médiévales
42-1
Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages
I. New Commentaries on Liber de causis
(ca. 1250-1350)
edited by
Dragos Calma
H
F
© 2016, F H G n.v., Turnhout, Belgium.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
D/2016/0095/183
ISBN 978-2-503-55474-7 (2 volumes)
ISBN 978-2-503-56650-4 (online version)
DOI 10.1484/M.SA-EB.5.111556
Printed on acid-free paper
Mise en page
Paul Brînzei
Contents
DragosCalma,Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
DragosCalma,TheExegeticalTraditionofMedievalNeoplatonism.
ConsiderationsonaRecentlyDiscoveredCorpusofTexts. . . . . 11
Mihai Maga, Remarques sur le commentaire au Liber de causis
attribuéàPierred’Auvergne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Alexandra Baneu / Dragos Calma, The Glose super Librum de
causisandtheExegeticalTradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
AlexandraBaneu/DragosCalma,LecommentairesurleLiberde
causisdeJeandeMallinges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
IacopoCosta/MartaBorgo,TheQuestionsofRadulphusBrito(?)
ontheLiberdecausis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
IuliaSzékely/DragosCalma,Lecommentaired’unmaîtreparisien
conservéàErfurt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Delphine Carron, A Theological Reading of the Liber de causis at
theTurnoftheFourteenthCentury:TheExampleofWilliam
ofLeus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
INDEXOFMANUSCRIPTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
INDEXOFNAMES(BEFORE1800) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
INDEXOFNAMES(AFTER1800) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

Acknowledgements
This is a collection of witnesses to the Latin legacy of the Book of Causes
andtheElementsofTheology.Theyarethefirstresultsofacollectiveproject
undertaken between October 2011 and September 2016 at “Babes¸-Bolyai”
UniversityinCluj-Napoca(Romania).Theproject,directedbyDragosCalma,
has been funded by the National Research Council of Romania (CNCS:
PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0058). Comprising the team are Alexandra Baneu,
Alexander Baumgarten, Mihai Maga and Iulia Székely, with the occasional
participation of Andrei Bereschi and Adinel Dinca˘. Researchers from other
institutions have joined and shared their work with the Cluj-Napoca team:
Marta Borgo (Leonine Commission), Iacopo Costa (CNRS, LEM — Leonine
Commission),DelphineCarron(UniversitéZürich—FNSAmbizione),Mario
Meliadò (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), Laure Miolo (Université
LumièreLyon2),FiorellaRetucci(UniversitàdelSalento,Lecce).
Work on these volumes has greatly benefited from the ‘LIBER’ project
(ANR-13-PDOC-0018-01),directedbyDragosCalmawithintheÉcolepratique
des hautes études (Paris) and financed by The French National Research
Agency (October 2013 – March 2017). The members of this team are Pascale
Bermon, Julie Brumberg-Chaumont, Olivier Boulnois, Irene Caiazzo, Marc
Geoffroy, Ruedi Imbach, Zénon Kaluza, Adriano Oliva, Dominique Poirel,
Jean-LucSolère,OlgaWeijers.Thankstothisproject,wewereabletopurchase
new digital reproductions of manuscripts, work in various libraries, acquire
booksandorganisescholarlymeetings.
TheadministrativesideofeachprojectwaseffectivelymanagedbyAmalia
Soos(Cluj-Napoca)andFéliciaYuste(Paris)respectively.
During these five years of research, friends and colleagues have
10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
participated upon request in various discussions, revisions and corrections
of these articles: Henryk Anzulewicz, Luca Bianchi, Olivier Boulnois,
Julie Brumberg-Chaumont, Irene Caiazzo, Delphine Carron, Jean Ceylerette,
Marc Geoffroy, Ruedi Imbach, Fiorella Retucci, Colette Sirat, Olga Weijers.
Dominique Poirel and Zénon Kaluza have actively collaborated in these
diverse endeavours from the beginning, and have reviewed several studies
published here with precision and generosity. Elizabeth Curry and Evan
King, with equal constancy in work and in friendship, have translated or
reviewed all of the English texts. Ota Pavlícˇek has shown the same kindness
in establishing contacts with the libraries of Prague. Many curators and
librarians from Austria, Germany, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland,
the United Kingdom and Sweden have contributed to this collective work
by sending information, facilitating access to manuscripts and, above all,
by preparing dozens of digital copies of manuscripts; personal thanks are
scattered throughout the volume. Once again, Paul Brînzei has managed the
technicalaspectsofitslayoutwithgreatcompetence.
It would have been impossible to see this lengthy work to completion
without the unfailing support of Iulia, Zénon, Olga and Maria, Livia,
(Fr.)Nicolae.
Myheartfeltgratitudetothemall.
LePecq, DragosCalma
January30,2016
TheExegeticalTraditionofMedievalNeoplatonism.
ConsiderationsonaRecentlyDiscoveredCorpusofTexts
DragosCalma
(Universitatea“Babe¸s-Bolyai”,Cluj-Napoca/Écolepratiquedeshautesétudes,Paris)
The texts, first of all. More precisely, the unpublished commentaries on the
Book of Causes and on the Elements of Theology, which are only partially
uncoveredinthetwovolumesofNeoplatonismintheMiddleAges(=NeMA).
Thesevolumesprincipallyreportphilologicalandhistoricalfindings,though
withoutneglecting—butalsowithoutprivileging—philosophicalanalyses,
treating those aspects most in need of describing when confronted with a
corpus largely unknown or ignored until now. At the outset of the project,
stillunderway,prioritywasgiventothesubstantivegroundwork:consulting
catalogues,locatingmanuscripts,identifyingthecommentariesandproviding
detailedanalysis(diffusionofmanuscripts,edition,contextualanddoctrinal
studies).Togethertheseelementsconstituteakindofidentitycardforeachof
thecommentariesstudiedinthesepages;attimespreciseinformationcanbe
given,whileatothersitwasnecessarytoadvanceonlyhypotheseswhichnow
awaitfurtherresearchinordertobeverified.
1.MedievalNeoplatonism:theStateoftheQuestion
1.1.Proclusandthe ElementsofTheology
The Latin legacy of the Elements of Theology is bound up with Thomas
Aquinas’scommentaryontheBookofCauses1.Aquinasconsiderablymodified
the medieval understanding of Greek Neoplatonism in two ways: firstly, by
1. Abroaderandstillvaluableoverview,despitemorerecentdevelopmentsincertainfields,
wasmadebyR.Imbach,“Le(néo-)platonismemédiéval,Procluslatinetl’écoledominicaine
allemande”,inRevuedethéologieetdephilosophie110(1978),p.427-448;reprintedinId.,
Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages, I. New Commentaries on Liber de causis (ca. 1250-1350), ed. by
‐
Dra gos Calma, SA 42 1 (T urnhout: Brep ols, 2016), pp. 11-52
F H G
DOI: 10.1484/M.SA-EB.5.111557
12 DRAGOSCALMA
demonstratingthattheBookofCausesdependsontheElementsofTheology
of Proclus; secondly, by offering a detailed comparison of the hierarchical
structureofthecosmosintheBookofCauseswiththewritingsofDionysius
the Pseudo-Areopagite (especially the Celestial Hierarchy). Thomas thereby
situated the anonymous treatise between Proclus, its philosophical source,
andDionysius,oneofthemajorauthoritiesofChristiantheology2.
The Latinreception of Proclushas been theobject of significantscholarly
attention, to mention only the studies of R. Klibansky3, P.O. Kristeller4,
H.-D.Saffrey5,W.Beierwaltes6,S.Gersh7,CSteel8.Someremarkableprogress
Quodlibeta.AusgewählteArtikel,Fribourg,Universitätsverlag,1996,p.129-152.Idonottake
intoconsiderationthelatertranslationsoftheElementsofTheology;onthistopicseethe
lateststateofthequestionpresentedbyD.Robichaud,“FragmentsofMarsilioFicino’s
TranslationsandUseofProclus’ElementsofTheologyandElementsofPhysics:Evidence
andStudy”,inVivarium54(2016),p.46-107.SeealsoG.Boss,G.Seel(eds.),Proclusetson
influence,Zürich,EditionduGrandMidi,1987;E.P.Bos,P.A.Meijer(eds.),OnProclusand
hisInfluenceinMedievalPhilosophy,Leiden/NewYork/Köln,Brill,1992.
2. Cf.A.deLibera,“AlbertleGrandetThomasd’AquininterprètesduLiberdecausis”,in
RevuedesSciencesphilosophiquesetthéologiques74(1990),p.349.
3. R.Klibansky,EinProklos-FundundseineBedeutung,Heidelberg,C.Winter,1929;Id.,The
ContinuityofthePlatonicTraditionduringtheMiddleAges,London,TheWarburgInstitute,
1939;Id.(ed.),CorpusPlatonicumMediiAevii,vol.III(Parmenides-Proclus),London,The
WarburgInstitute,1953.
4. P.O. Kristeller, Renaissance Thought and Its Sources, New York, Columbia University
Press,1979;Id.,“ProclusasaReaderofPlatoandPlotinus,andhisInfluenceintheMiddle
AgesandintheRenaissance”,inJ.Pépin,H.-D.Saffrey(eds.),Procluslecteuretinterprète
desanciens,Paris,EditionsduCNRS,1987,p.191-211;Id.,“NeoplatonismoeRinascimento”,
in P. Prini (ed.), Il neoplatonismo nel Rinascimento, Roma, Istituto della Enciclopedia
italiana,1993,p.9-28.
5. H.-D. Saffrey, “L’état actuel des recherches sur le Liber de causis comme source de la
métaphysiqueauMoyenÂge”,inDieMetaphysikimMittelalter,Berlin,W.DeGruyter,1963,
p.267-281;Id.,RecherchessurlatraditionplatonicienneauMoyen-ÂgeetàlaRenaissance,
Paris,Vrin,1987;Id.,L’héritagedesanciensauMoyenÂgeetàlaRenaissance,Paris,Vrin,
2003.
6. W. Beierwaltes, “Das seiende Eine. Zur neuplatonischen Interpretation der zweiten
Hypothesis des platonischen Parmenides : das Beispiel Cusanus”, in Boss, Seel (eds.),
Proclusetsoninfluence,p.287-298;Id.,Platonismeetidéalisme,Paris,Vrin,2000,p.11-87;
Procliana:spätantikesDenkenundseineSpuren,Frankfurta.M.,VittorioKlostermann,
2007.
7. S.Gersh,MiddlePlatonismandNeoplatonism:theLatinTradition,2vols,NotreDame,
University of Notre Dame Press, 1986; Id., Reading Plato, Tracing Plato: From Ancient
CommentarytoMedievalReception,Aldershot,Ashgate,2005;Id.(ed.),InterpretingProclus,
2014; S. Gersh, M.J.F.M. Hoenen (eds.), The Platonic Tradition in the Middle Ages: a
DoxographicApproach,Berlin,W.deGruyter,2002.
8. C. Steel, Proclus: Commentaire sur le ‘Parménide’ de Platon. Traduction de Guillaume
de Moerbeke. Tome 1: Livre I à IV, Leuven, Leuven University Press, 1982; Id., Proclus:
Commentairesurle‘Parménide’dePlaton.TraductiondeGuillaumedeMoerbeke.Tome2:
LivreVàVIIetnotesmarginalesdeNicolasdeCues.Editioncritiquesuiviedel’éditiondes